


What Came After

by dsidhe



Category: Queen of Atlantis - Sarah Rees Brennan
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-18
Updated: 2017-12-18
Packaged: 2019-02-16 12:56:08
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,081
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13054446
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dsidhe/pseuds/dsidhe
Summary: What happened to Mede and the Prince after the end





	What Came After

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Katarik](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Katarik/gifts).



It had been a long, and exhausting day. And Mede still hadn’t had her wedding night.

#

When she laid down on the bed with the Prince beside her, Mede thought, knew, that she would never see her home again. She would never see the snow cover her garden in winter, never again see the plum blossoms bloom. Nurse would have no need to shoo her away from the garden and dress her up for another dinner party. She would have no chance to tell Genia she now understood why Genia always looked regally sad during the time the poison tides came. And her parents, with her mother saying she would be back at tea-time; how would they feel when Mede never comes back? 

She gripped the Prince’s hand tight in her left hand, his touch cold but reassuring. He would be with her until the end. She closed her eyes to the sound of the waves coming closer.

A wave of cold, wet, pressure. Then silence.

For a beat, then several beats, there was still only silence. The Prince gripped her hand tighter. She heard him breathe deep and sit up. She opened her eyes to see the man from the painting staring back at her. She had expected to see water surrounding them. Instead, she saw the sun casting a halo over the Prince’s head. She could see the sun! The waves that should have swallowed the city, should have drowned them all underwater, had instead been like a fog that cleansed all it had touched.

She vaguely heard people yelling and screaming outside the balcony doors, but she was focused on how loud her heart was beating and how warm the Prince’s hand was.

The door to the chamber burst open with an elderly woman at the front, not unlike Mede’s own Nurse, and what looked like several armed guards.

She and the Prince sprang out of the bed and stood up.

“Your highness…” mixed with “Prince…” as everyone shouted at the same time. Mede wanted to take her hands and put them over her ears. The noise after the hours of relative silence felt deafening.

“Silence,” the Prince said. “Mede is exhausted. Nanny, please take Mede to rest in one of the other rooms. I will go and meet my parents.”

He looked at the guards. “You may go ahead.” The oldest guard, who looked like the Captain of the Guards, hesitated but took one look at the Prince and gathered the rest of the men to leave the room.

The Prince turned to Mede. “I need to see what’s happening and speak with my parents. Nanny here will take care of you. I will come back and get you as soon as I can.”

He took her right hand, kissed it briefly and left the room.

#

The old woman, who insisted that Mede also call her Nanny, took Mede to a bedroom a few doors down. It was in shades of green and brown.

Nanny showed her the chamberpot and basin. They had running water, a marvel Mede had heard about but never seen, with little taps for cold or hot.

Mede pushed the sleeves of her gown and washed her face. She tried to tidy her hair without a comb while Nanny bustled around the room. Looking at her pale face in the mirror above the basin, she felt her hands shaking and brought them down in front of her face. Both her sleeves were whole again. Her dress looked the same as when she stepped into the boat only mere hours ago, yet it felt like years had passed.

Nanny immediately brought her to sit on the bed. “There there, my child. Why don’t you lie down and rest a bit?”

She lay down on the bed and closed her eyes.

#

When she woke up, she saw the Prince at her side, holding her right hand.

“How are you feeling?” he asked quietly.

She smiled and said, “I’m fine, better that I rested. How are things though? How are your parents?”

“Everyone was confused at first, realizing you’re alive after living for so long in between life and death will do that to anyone. But it has settled down a little. If you’re feeling up to it, I would like to introduce you to my parents.” He smiled. “There’s also the matter of a small company of men from your kingdom who went looking for you. I think it would do them good to see you well.”

“Oh gods, my parents!” Mede realized. They must have thought she was dead.

#

After Mede straightened her dress and fixed her hair, the Prince took her to his parents’ chamber.

His mother stood up as she saw them. She approached Mede and embraced her. “Thank you for what you’ve done for us! You don’t know how much time we’ve spent just wishing for an end to it all. But now!” His mother started weeping. Mede embraced her back and said, “I’m sorry.”

She felt the Prince’s father approach them, and lay his and on his wife’s shoulder. “Thank you as well Princess Mede, on behalf of our country.”

The Queen finally let Mede go and wiped her tears. “We have planned a small dinner tonight to celebrate.” She smiled. “Our people wanted a bigger celebration, but we have planned that for tomorrow instead. I wanted to make sure you were comfortable first.”

She took Mede’s hand. “Also, there are some men from your kingdom here. Your parents must be worried about you. You must give word that you are well and invite them to come tomorrow for the celebration.”

#

After talking with the small contingent of very relieved guards who had gone looking for her and spent most of the night going around in circles looking for her boat, and having dinner with the Prince and his family, Mede felt exhausted.

She was in the Prince’s bedchamber again, for that was where she had been earlier, standing in front of his open balcony doors. The palace gardens were beautiful in the moonlight. She would love to see them in sunlight tomorrow.

She felt him come up behind her and embrace her from behind. He said, “We can take it slow. The curse has been lifted.”

She turned around to face him and said, “After the last two days we’ve had, I at least want a kiss.” 

The Prince took her face in his hands and kissed her gently.

**Author's Note:**

> The canon is short but rich. I love fairy tale happily ever after endings though so that's what I went with for this version of Mede and her Prince.
> 
> Thanks to my betas: Asimiento and Kate Nepveu, who did this on short notice and still managed to school me on better word choice and correct punctuation. Remaining mistakes mine as I am stubborn plus made updates after they last saw this.


End file.
